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Title: Daniel Deronda (Everyman's Library (Alfred a. Knopf, Inc.), 163) by George Eliot, A. S. Byatt ISBN: 0-375-41123-2 Publisher: Unknown Publisher - Being Researched Pub. Date: 19 September, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.56 (18 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Daniel Deronda - A Search For Meaning And a Spiritual Center
Comment: "Daniel Deronda" is George Eliot's last and, perhaps, most ambitious novel. It has great literary merit, but I do not think it is her best work. The novel contrasts the lax moral attitudes of the British aristocracy with the focused dedication of the Jewish Zionists. Given the typical anti-Semitic sentiments in Victorian England, and the little known world of the Jews and the Zionist Movement, Ms. Eliot's made a brave and idealistic effort by writing this book.
Ms. Elliot describes the lives of British Jews, a society-within-a-society, of which most of her contemporaries were oblivious, through her hero Daniel Deronda. Through her heroine, Gwendolyn Harleth, who marries for money and power rather than love, Eliot explores a side of human relations that leads only to despair.
Daniel sees Gwendolyn, for the first time, at a roulette table. He is fascinated by her classical, blonde English beauty, and vivacious, self-assured manner. When Ms. Harleth is forced to sell her necklace to pay gambling debts, Deronda, a disapproving observer, buys back the jewelry, anonymously, and returns it to her. This is not the last time the deeply spiritual and altruistic Deronda will feel a need to rescue Gwendolyn.
Daniel was adopted by an English gentleman at an early age. He has received affection, a good education, and to some extent, position, from his guardian. However, Deronda has never been told the story of his true parentage, and sorely feels this lack of roots and his own identity. Not content to play the gentleman, he always appears to be searching for a purpose in life.
Daniel's and Gwendolyn's lives intersect throughout the novel. They feel a strong mutual attraction initially, but Gwendolyn, with incredible passivity, decides to marry someone she knows is a scoundrel, for his wealth. The decision will haunt her as her life becomes a nightmare with the sadistic Mr. Harcourt, her husband.
At about the same time, Daniel inadvertently saves a young woman from suicide. He finds young Mirah Lapidoth, near drowning, by the river and takes her to a friend's home to recover. There she is made welcome and asked to stay. She is a Jewess, abducted from her mother years before, by her father, who wanted to use the child's talent as a singer to earn money. When young Mirah forced her voice beyond its limits, and lost her ability to sing, her father abandoned her. She has never been able to reunite with her mother and brother, and was alone and destitute, until Daniel found her. Daniel, in his search for Mirah's family, meets the Cohens, a Jewish shop owner and his kin. Deronda feels an immediate affinity with them and visits often. He also comes to know a Jewish philosopher and Zionist, Mordecai, and they forge a strong bond of friendship.
Daniel finally does discover his identity, and has a very poignant and strange meeting with his mother. He had been actively taking steps to make a meaningful existence for himself, and with the new information about his parents and heritage, he leaves England with a wife, for a new homeland and future.
One of the novel's most moving scenes is when Daniel and Gwendolyn meet for the last time. Gwendolyn has grown from a self-centered young woman to a mature, thoughtful adult, who has suffered and grown strong.
The author is one of my favorites and her writing is exceptional. This particular novel, however, became occasionally tedious with Ms. Eliot's monologues, and the book's length. Her characters are fascinating, original as always, and well drawn. The contrast between the lives of the British aristocracy, the emerging middle class, and the Jewish community gives the reader an extraordinary glimpse into three totally different worlds in Victorian England. A fine book and a wonderful reading experience.
Rating: 5
Summary: a historic masterpiece
Comment: Daniel Deronda is a brave piece of literature. It attempts to chronicle the budding Zionist movement and anti-semitic attitudes of Victorian society, and combine it with a more traditional George Eliot soul-searching story of a young woman (a gentile who has a complex relationship with Daniel Deronda, the young Englishman who discovers he is a Jew). While many people have quibbled about various details of the story, with some justification, the overall impact is one of awe. It's amazing how an accomplished writer defies popular criticism and explores a subject matter which was, at the time, politically incorrect.
Strictly speaking, Daniel Deronda isn't quite the same level of immaculate fiction as Middlemarch. So I think George Eliot fans will be somewhat disappointed. But on the positive side, the book is much more accessible (ie, easier to read). And the subject matter makes it required reading for everyone interested in modern Judaism/Zionism. It's fascinating to compare how Jews were perceived during the mid-1800s relative to today (..in western Europe).
Finally, the Penguin Classic edition of Daniel Deronda has both great Notes and Introductory sections (which, oddly, is supposed to be read AFTER reading the book).
Rating: 3
Summary: A good look at late Eliot
Comment: This is the first of Eliot's novels that I read. For being a Victorian women, I must say that it's also one of her most thematically adventurous novels as well. She addresses so much within the pages of this novel that it's amazing that one can still be interested in the plot. For a 500-page novel, it's thick with symbolism and social themes such as womens' rights (or lack thereof in society), Judaism, the difference in social classes, etc... Although the two contrasting stories of Daniel and Gwendolen seem somewhat strangely juxtaposed, they are actually complimentary and intertwining at points in this coming-of-age novel.
Eliot's writing is typical Victorian: winded and the usage of the appendix in the back becomes tiresome, but it also shows intellect behind the pseudonym that one is forced to appreciate. It's hard to find a lovable character in this story because of the purposeful idealism and poorly sketched minor characters, but the portrait she draws of Gwendolen and Daniel's mother (who seemingly parallels Mrs. Havisham in Great Expectations, I think) are memorable.
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Title: Middlemarch (Penguin Classics) by George Eliot, Rosemary Ashton ISBN: 0141439548 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: Adam Bede (English Library) by George Eliot ISBN: 0140431217 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1980 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title:Daniel Deronda ASIN: B0000897EC Publisher: BBC Video Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $21.73 |
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Title: The Mill on the Floss (Oxford World's Classics) by George Eliot, Gordon S. Haight, Dinah Birch ISBN: 0192833642 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Felix Holt, the Radical (Penguin Classics) by George Eliot, Lynda Mugglestone ISBN: 0140434356 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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